Seated between the old world and the new

A sonnet in praise of Queen Elizabeth I, written for an Accession Day spectacle in 1595. It forms part of an entertainment in which a blind Amerindian prince is magically cured by Elizabeth and then revealed to be Love.[1] The poem was formerly attributed to Francis Bacon by James Spedding.

Notes

↑Steven W. May, "The poems of Edward de Vere, seventeenth Earl of Oxford and Robert Devereux, second Earl of Essex" in Studies in Philology, 77 (Winter 1980), Chapel Hill, p.88-90.

1474658Seated between the old world and the newRobert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex1595

Seated between the old world and the new
A land there is no other land may touch,
Where reigns a queen in peace and honour true;
Stories or fables do describe no such.
Never did Atlas such a burthen bear
As she in holding up the world oppressed,
Supplying with her virtue everywhere,
Weakness of friends, errors of servants best.
No nation breeds a warmer blood for war,
And yet she calms them with her majesty.
No age hath ever wit refined so far,
And yet she calms them by her policy.
To her thy son must make his sacrifice,
If he will have the morning of his eyes.

This work was published before January 1, 1923, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.